Rabbinic Tumah of Glass Vessels and Need for Hekeira

Description

Rabbi Akiva Eiger critiques the Chasam Sofer's explanation of why the exemption of glass from midras tumah does not itself serve as a sufficient hekeira distinguishing rabbinic from Torah tumah. He argues that midras belongs to an entirely different category of tumah never included in the glass decree, so people might still assume the decreed tumah types fully replicate Torah law; the hekeira of flat glass vessels being tahor demonstrates that even within the decreed categories the Rabbis did not replicate Torah law. A postscript raises an unresolved difficulty on the Rash in Kelim 2:2.